A report to the council of Endumeni (Dundee) Local Municipality in north-western KwaZulu-Natal has recommended that the officials who underpriced and sold a municipal grader worth R1.7 million for R550 000 be hauled over the coals.
This report also formed part of the resolutions passed during a meeting late November this year when the matter came up for discussion.
In 2023, the municipality resolved that a faulty grader be disposed of in a public auction.
However, the process was tainted by allegations of underhand dealings.
“Recommendations: that external investigation be instituted. That the disposal of the Grader be reported to CoGTA for the forensic investigation.
“That the losses incurred through the auction be recovered from the Auctioneers and/or implicated employee/s. That the contract of the Auctioneers be terminated in terms of SCM Reg 38(1)(f) and that the AO report the matter to SAPS as required by section 32 (6) (a)(b) of the MFMA,” reads the recommendations.
According to a report about the matter, the Chief Financial Officer of the municipality, Charity Mkhize first told the council that the sale was approved by the council and she had no control over the matter.
She later noted that a grader and another item were extremely underpriced compared to the carrying values as contained in the asset list that was sent to Auctioneers.
Mkhize instructed a certain Ms Ngobese, an Asset Clerk in the municipality, to cancel and withdraw the sale of the grader and Q7 due to the bid offers that were significantly below carrying values. and the recommendation was to reimburse buyers accordingly.
Upon realising that the assets were undervalued and the auctioneers refused to stop the disposal process, the matter was not escalated to the Accounting Officer or reported in council.
The report noted that the Auctioneer did not conduct the auction in the interest of the municipality and failed to adhere to the conditions of sale.
Among the other irregularities noted by the report was that on 11 December 2023 the grader was transferred to Tipper Man Commercial by Tshwane Central (A. Waheed Workstation Number 44970051) whilst it was initially sold to a certain M.H Khosa.
“Those transactions happened without the completion of the notification of change of ownership (NCO) form as per the National Road Traffic Act, 1996 (NCO)(6)(201203),” reads the report.
The Endumeni Local Municipality did not respond when it was asked about the matter.
